WORK SAMPLES

We’ve Become Desensitized To Nikola Jokic’s Greatness

By: Ben Casalinho | Jan. 29 2025

His peak is on par with LeBron & MJ’s, it’s time we start acting like it.

DENVER, Colo. — We’ve become desensitized to Nikola Jokic’s greatness. The joker is on his way to potentially his fourth MVP award in just the past five seasons, yet it doesn’t feel he gets put on the same pedestal as past greats like LeBron, Steph, Kobe, Durant, MJ, etc..

If you look at ‘PER’, which stands for Player Efficiency Rating, probably the most used advanced stat and widely considered the best metric to measure overall offensive success. Nikola holds the two best ‘PER’ seasons in league history.

His season this year ranking at the top, and his 2022 campaign right behind at #2.

Not only that, his other three seasons the past five years, also ALL rank in the top 20 all-time. Insanity…

Let’s again harp on the fact that his season this year ranks the BEST in league history. Ahead of iconic seasons like Wilt Chamberlain’s in 1962 when he averaged 50 PPG (a season he also allegedly scored 100 points in a game in). Even MJ & LeBron’s best PER seasons. For Jordan in 1988 which ranks seventh all time, and LeBron in 2009 that’s slotted at eighth.

Then just moving past the advanced stats, look at his bizarre box score production. He’s casually averaging a 30-point triple-double. At 30.0 PPG, 13.1 RPG & 10.2 APG. To go along with historic efficiency of 57% from the field, and 48% (!!) from beyond the arch. Literal video game production.

Still with all the figures I’ve thrown at you thus far, none come more impressive than his on/off numbers. For the last four seasons, Nikola has held the best on-off point differential in the entire association.

Denver outscores their opponents by 13.3 points per 100 possessions when Jokic is on the floor. A number that nearly reverses to being outscored by 13.1 points per 100 possessions when he’s absent. (Source: Cleaning The Glass)

To put into context truly how crazy that is, Cleaning The Glass has a stat that equates NET rating to wins for an 82-game season. And their +13.3 NET rating would lead to roughly a 67-15 record. With their -13.1 mark, equating to an estimated 13-69 record. Brutal…

The Nuggets have always struggled in non-Jokic minutes over his career, and particularly in this five year MVP stretch. But things have gotten a lot worse this season as you see above, in large part due to the losses of Bruce Brown & Kentavious Caldwell-Pope the past two summers.

You can even look on a more anecdotal level. Jokic dropped 56 points vs the at the time 2-18 Wizards back in mid-December (while they were in the midst of a 17-game losing streak) — and they lost.

It hilariously prompted Jokic post-game to tell reporters, "In my country, where I'm coming from, after this kind of stretch, you're going to get paycheck that is a little bit less than you had hoped," "Maybe that's what we need to do. Maybe a little motivation.”

I say all this to suggest, Denver’s such abysmal play when he’s not on the floor is what’s probably driving his crazy statistical season to get overlooked.

Averaging a triple-double is no longer flashy like when his new teammate Russell Westbrook perennially did it in the mid-2010’s. And honestly — I can’t blame people. It’s now a feat that players hit on a nightly basis, where it doesn't hold the same charm.

So when we see stat-lines from Nikola like we saw last Thursday night — where he joined Wilt as the only other player to put up 35-20-15 in a single game. It comes with little national reaction and recognition.

Jokic has just become so good, where it’s broken our minds.